For English sommelier Emma Round, wine is more than just a drink. It stirs up memories, adding depth to life’s moments. In 2021 she had the idea to open Unwined, a wine bar and restaurant, to bring this experience to others. In addition to wine it will also offer cocktails and a diverse range of food served small-plate and sharing style. It is projected to open its doors in late August or early September.
“I was like, ‘You know, it’s after Covid, I’m going to open a restaurant and wine bar in southern New Hampshire,” Round said. “‘I don’t even live in America, but I’m going to do it and it’s going to be great … why not?’ Yeah, I think I temporarily lost my mind.”
With a love for wine and a background in business management in the United Kingdom, Round started looking for locations. She noticed that while the wine industry was growing in America, people were moving out of cities after the pandemic.
“You shouldn’t need to travel to Portsmouth or Portland or Boston to go to a really great place,” Round said. “There are so many places in southern New Hampshire right now that are opening up and creating experiences that you would have expected in these large cities. … I’m hoping we can add a new layer to that.”
In England, Round grew up in a culture and family in which wine was a staple. Wine bars were plentiful, and the beverage was key at family dinners. On the contrary, Round felt that Americans often associated wine with older, wealthier populations. It was important to Round to eliminate this misconception, as well as to educate people in a welcoming environment.
“For us it’s really about taking away that pretentiousness [and] making an inclusive environment that is accessible to everyone,” she said. “We’re hoping to be able to educate people in a fun and approachable way.”
Prior to the establishment of Unwined, Round had never been to New Hampshire but had worked in hotels in Boston. She discovered that she loved New England, finding small-town America to be particularly charming. When looking for a location, she knew she wanted to find somewhere that was easily accessible and central to other locations. She researched areas near the border of New Hampshire and Massachusetts, eventually deciding on Milford.
“I felt there was a really nice space for us there with the wine just to kind of [add to] the Milford food and beverage scene as a whole,” she said.
According to Round, the process of opening Unwined has been intense but incredible. While she had experience in the U.K., she had to learn how to manage a business in the U.S. She feels her European background will allow her to include unique and unusual wines not stocked at other wine bars.
“We’ve managed to source lots of fantastic products locally, and the entire community has been great,” Round said. “Milford town is chomping at the bit for us to open, and everyone has been so generous and open with me. … People have been incredible and so helpful, which I really appreciate.”
Unwined Where: 1 Nashua St. in Milford Opening: late August or early September More info: unwinednh.com
The excitement was palpable while the 13-person cast of Firebringer rehearsed on Tuesday, June 27, just a little more than two weeks from opening night. The group of teens sang, acted and joked in the rehearsal space, giving their all for the rehearsal run-through of the show’s first act.
Firebringer, a musical comedy about how cavemen, and cavewomen, discovered fire, is the first show the Teen Actorsingers have put on since closing down due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Director Christine Conticchio said she was excited to help highlight the young talent of southern New Hampshire.
“I am excited that we’re a small group but a mighty group,” Conticchio said. “What I didn’t get in quantity, I made up for in quality.”
The show follows a tribe of humans during the Stone Age, with the leader, Jemilla, focusing on keeping the peace in the tribe, having everyone do their designated jobs and duties, and keeping the tribe safe. Zazzalil, an outsider who doesn’t enjoy hard work, decides to try to figure out a shortcut.
Conticchio said she wanted to bring something that would make audiences excited for the reinvigorated youth program. Firebringer gained online popularity due to the meme of Zazzalil singing about how she doesn’t want to do the daily work, and that viral video was enough for Conticchio to get the show up and running. Another benefit was the ensemble nature of the cast, leading to multiple named parts, and the overall lighthearted and feel-good message the show leaves the audience with.
Sophia Scribner, who plays the leader of the tribe, Jemilla, said the whole show revolves around changing perspectives and learning to be open to that change.
“Because of Zazzalil, [Jemilla] realizes that new inventions, like fire, don’t have to be scary,” Scribner said.
Zazzalil, played by Maeve McNeal, starts the show out as an outcast and a troublemaker, but finally becomes accepted by the end of the show, after becoming the titular firebringer and realizing that Jemilla might have had some good points.
“She’s all over the place, but eventually people start to understand her,” McNeal said. “She ends up feeling like she belongs in the end. It’s cute, very coming-of-age.”
In the past, Teen Actorsingers have won awards for their productions, but that isn’t something that Conticchio is focusing on. With the organization finally coming back from the pandemic, Conticchio said she is just excited to be surrounded by passionate young actors.
“They’re wanting a challenge,” Conticchio said about the cast. “These harmonies are not easy, these rhythms are not easy, but they have thrived in that challenge.”
As Conticchio sees it, people often write off teen actors and performances — she said a lot of organizations will shy away from more difficult shows, or choose to do the teen or junior adaptations of popular musicals. Conticchio said that is a disservice to the young actors.
“There’s a fine line between treating [teens] like babies and treating them like they’re almost adults,” Conticchio said. “I think that’s the understatement of teen theater; a lot of people underestimate what these young people can do, and I want to show them that this is what they’re capable of.”
Firebringer From the Teen Actorsingers (actorsingers.org) Where: Janice B. Streeter Theater, 14 Court St. in Nashua When: Friday, July 14, and Saturday, July 15, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, July 16, at 2 p.m. Tickets: $20 for adults and $18 for seniors and students plus fees (discounts for group tickets).
While running a ceramics studio after studying ceramics and art history at the Kansas City Art Institute, Calder Kamin felt that clay was no longer the ideal medium to create her art.
“[It] was a very difficult medium to continue without the school’s facilities,” Kamin said. “I started to feel less attachment to the material because it started to feel very arbitrary and heavy. It’s expensive [and] demands all these facilities, all this energy [and] all these toxic chemicals.”
Instead, she started making art from post-consumer materials and has involved the community in her efforts during her residency at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester.
Kamin will be running activities and displaying her work at the museum’s free summer block party on Saturday, July 15, from 4 to 9 p.m.
“It’s a major celebration … for people to come and bring their friends and family and explore the museum,” said Courtney Starrett, the press contact for the Currier. “We’re super excited to have Calder on board doing her activity as well, because it really ties in with our overall theme of nature and the environment.”
Originally from Austin, Texas, Kamin has been traveling to different residency programs, having started at the Currier in April. During her time there, she has been working on constructing two 12-foot-long quilts that will become a pair of wings for a plush pegasus. She has enlisted the help of the community to hand-sew feathers for the wings. In each feather will be a dream written on a piece of paper. All of the scraps from the feather-making workshops will be used to form the body of the quilt.
“I make all my art out of garbage,” Kamin said. “Everything [used] has to be from post-consumer materials. I try to use very little, [or] nothing, new.”
Kamin became inspired to recycle material for her art after she took up birding as a hobby.
“I started observing the birds in my neighborhood, and the most interesting behavior to me was watching the birds collect trash to build their nests,” Kamin said. “I thought, ‘Oh, I need to be more like a bird. Nature never wastes. … Everything is used for new energy or new life.’”
Kamin started using trash, mostly plastic bags, which usually take the shape of animals or fantastical creatures.
“It became a real passion to reuse these materials, support the folks that are getting these materials out of the waste stream, and then show the value of these materials to the public by transforming them into beautiful objects,” she said.
During her residency, Kamin has also been holding workshops with activities influenced by other artists. One craft, inspired by Louise Nevelson, involves gluing wood scraps together and painting them black. Another project incorporates the work of Josef Albers, an abstract painter whose work often took the shape of squares, and Anni Albers, a fiber artist. This results in square felt patches.
Kamin also drains the pigment from old markers to make an ink wash, using the caps to make flowers or beads for a curtain. She was inspired to make the pegasus from her prior residency work.
“I was making art for children’s museums that they couldn’t touch and it started to not make sense,” she said. “[I thought,] ‘Why am I making art you can’t touch for a children’s museum that is purely about interaction?’ So this is my attempt to not only make a project that brought the community in to build, but a piece … that children can touch and play [with].”
Once completed, the pegasus will be part of an exhibition in April 2024 in Texas. From there, it will travel to New Orleans, then to Mobile, Alabama. At the block party, Kamin will show what she has done so far.
The outdoor event will be headlined by Kamin as well as Vermont artist Mark Ragonese, and will include live music, food trucks and many environmental-themed activities and projects.
“We see [the artists in residence] program as a leading way to really create more access points,” Starrett said. “For people to be able to enter the museum when they otherwise feel as though it might not be for them or it’s something they need to pay for. We really want to break down those barriers and let people know it’s … for everyone.”
Summer Block Party Where: Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; 669-6144, currier.org) When: Saturday, July 15, 4 to 9 p.m. The event features free gallery admission, art activities, food trucks, face painting, a beer and wine tent, community art projects and more, according to the website. This year’s theme is nature and environmentalism, the website said.
More Currier events
Where: Currier Museum of Art (150 Ash St. in Manchester; 669-6144, currier.org) Hours of admission: are Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Admission: $20 for adults, $15 for seniors ages 65 and older and for students, $5 for youth ages 13-17, children younger than 13 are free.
The next Expressions through Art is on Thursday, July 13, from 4 to 5:30 p.m. This program provides an outlet for cancer patients, survivors and their families. The museum uses art in the galleries as well as art workshops to help visitors form connections.
The program Looking Together will highlight Giovan Angelo Montorsoli’s painting “John the Baptist” from the 1530s on Saturday, July 16, at 11 a.m. or noon. Visitors to the museum will have a chance for a close look at the painting with a member of the museum’s teaching staff to educate them on the work of art.
According to Marlana Trombley, the head of marketing and special projects at Orbit Group, Liz and Jeremey Hitchcock created the Artists in Residence program at The Factory on Willow to give artists an opportunity to draw inspiration from the Manchester community.
“The whole program is really just an opportunity to integrate more art into the Manchester community, and for artists from all over the world to get an opportunity to see what a gem the city is and how much we all love it,” she said.
The 12-week residency program provides housing, a food stipend and an art supply stipend, and ends in a capstone exhibition.
“We’re very customized in how we work with each artist,” Trombley said. “Every artist has a different opportunity depending on what is going on in the community. … The whole thing gets shaped while they’re on site.”
The residency has welcomed artists from as far away as the United Kingdom. One of the current artists, Jay Goldberg, comes from New York City. His exploration of memory will be showcased as a multimedia project titled “The Memory of America – Manchester: Remember Your First Baseball Game.” This entails conducting interviews with members of the Manchester community about their first time going to a baseball game.
“For me, it’s all about getting out into the community,” Goldberg said. “I’m really enjoying that in Manchester. … I threw myself right into the community because if I don’t meet people there is no art project.”
Goldberg has been working on other versions of this project centering around other communities for a couple of years, but his interest in the link between baseball and memory is a theme that he feels has been embedded in him since his childhood.
In 2000 Goldberg and a partner owned a design studio company where they made handmade baseballs. On the gift box of each one, Goldberg wrote a paragraph about someone’s memory of going to their first game.
“It touched a nerve with a lot of people. I got such positive feedback,” he said.
Years later, while cleaning out a storage locker that held inventory for a gallery shop, Goldberg rediscovered a letter from his late father.
“He wrote me this note … [and asked] could I do him a favor [and] go to the library and check the microfilm,” he said. “He had this memory [of] the first time he went to a baseball game and he wanted to see if his memory was still good.”
Goldberg intends to showcase the stories and memories of the people he’s talked to via multiple media forms. One of these forms will be an interactive film projection of an interview transcript that will look like it’s being written by a typewriter, the writing becoming slower the longer it takes the story to unfold.
Another will involve a video projection with a looping graphic. With it there will be two lines from different interviews about the same topic but from opposite perspectives.
“Somebody asked me once to describe what the project is in one word, which is almost impossible, but as I thought about it, I realized I can describe what it’s really about in one word, and it’s about love,” Goldberg said. “The stories go in all different directions but part of why I enjoy it so much is no matter what direction they go in [it] always gets down to love in one way or another.”
Upcoming Factory on Willow events
Here are some of the artist in residence events scheduled in July and August, according to factoryonwillow.com. The Factory on Willow is at 252 Willow St. in Manchester.
Justin Tyler Tate, artist in residence showcase, on Thursday, July 27, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Free.
Artist in Residence Workshop: Cup-o-soup with Justin Tyler Tate. Learn how to “remake products such as homemade medicines, balms and other remedies in the form of consumable art-objects,” according to the website. Event is Saturday, July 29, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person. See website for tickets.
Artist in Residence Workshop: The Atomic Balms with Justin Tayler Tate on Sunday, July 30, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person; see website for tickets.
Artist in Residence Workshop: Lost and Found First Aid with Justin Tyler Tate on Saturday, Aug. 5, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person; see website for tickets.
Artist in Residence Workshop: Bath Bomb and Carry On with Justin Tyler Tate on Saturday, Aug. 12, from 10 to 11:30 a.m. Admission costs $10 per person; see website for tickets.
Jay Goldberg, artist in residence showcase, on Thursday, Aug. 17, from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Free.
Alanis Obomsawin.
MacDowell Medal Day MacDowell (100 High St. in Peterborough; macdowell.org, 924-3886), which provides artists in a variety of fields a residential environment to work in and is billed as the nation’s first artist residency program, will hold its 63rd awarding of the MacDowell Medal on Sunday, July 23, from 12:15 to 4 p.m. The Medal, awarded to an artist who makes outstanding contributions in their field, goes this year to Alanis Obomsawin, a filmmaker who is Abenaki, was born in New Hampshire and “is known as a clear-eyed chronicler of the lives and concerns of First Nations people and explores issues of universal importance,” according to the MacDowell website. The event is free and open to the public, though you can order a picnic basket (the deadline for online ordering has passed but call for information). The day will include the medal ceremony at 12:15 p.m. and open studios from 2 to 4 p.m., when visitors can see the work of current artists in residence, according to the website.
Standing ovation
Londonderry-based theater company gives students the chance to learn and lead
Meg Gore, a theater producer and director with more than 35 years of experience, founded Ovation Theatre Company in Londonderry in 2019 with the intent to focus on education.
“It’s always my goal that when someone enters any of our programs … that by the time they finish they’ve learned something,” Gore said.
At Ovation, students are involved in every step of the production process through their artists in residency program. Unlike other artists in residency programs, Ovation does not offer housing and funding for artists, but instead gives high school and college students the opportunity to take on a role in production under the guidance of mentors. This includes positions lasting anywhere from around one to six months, such as student director, stage manager and choreographer, that are tailored to the goals and needs of the artist.
Ryan Kaplan. Courtesy photo.
“We don’t necessarily have a set program … but at whatever level we can, whenever we can, we do involve the students,” Gore said.
Ryan Kaplan, a soon to be sophomore at Windham High School, has been doing theater since he was 8 years old, working specifically with Ovation for the past three to four years.
“I got started from a pretty early age for theater and it’s always something I’ve been really passionate about,” he said. “I really believe in the power of art to heal people … and I think that theater is such a powerful way to do that, because you’re putting real humans in a space with people that they’re presenting their art to and just that added layer of human connection. It’s a really powerful way of storytelling.”
While at Ovation, Kaplan has had the opportunity to be an assistant director and stage manager of Ovation’s production of Glynn Cosker’s show, Masked. He was also then invited to work on the production of The Little Mermaid, Ovation’s first completely student-run production. He is now working as an assistant director for the summer camp.
“I would love to have some sort of career in theater, or to have it be a major part of my life in some way,” Kaplan said. “I’ve been given so many avenues to explore different branches of theater and different jobs in the theater. I’m actually really not sure right now if I would want to be a theater educator or go into directing or performing or what specifically that is, but I definitely know that theater and performance art is definitely the path that I want to go down.”
Upcoming Ovation Theatre shows
Newsies Friday, July 21, at 7 p.m. and Saturday, July 22, at 2 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry). Tickets cost $20 ($25 after July 15). See ovationtc.com.
The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical Friday, Aug. 11, and Saturday, Aug. 12, at 7 p.m. at the Derry Opera House (29 W. Broadway in Derry). Tickets cost $17 ($20 after Aug. 5). See ovationtc.com.
Batulo Mahamed.Courtesy photo.
Culinary Artist in Residence The Capitol Center for the Arts has a Culinary Artist in Residence program, a position currently held by Batulo Mohamed. She serves up Somali-inspired cuisine, such as the sambusa (a Somali meat pie) she was known for before opening Batulo’s Kitchen at the Cap Center’s Bank of New Hampshire Stage (16 S. Main St. in Concord). The eatery is open Wednesday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. See batuloskitchen.com.
Blending passions
Artist combines passion for music and nature at Avaloch Farm Music Institute
Avaloch Music Farm Institute, set on the grounds of what used to be an apple orchard in Boscawen, offers artists a rural respite to focus on their craft.
“What makes us so unique is [while] there are many residency programs in the U.S. and abroad, very few of them are geared toward performing artists,” said Ashley Bathgate, the director, and six time former resident, at Avaloch. “I think it allows the performing touring artist to find a home and be able to work together which is a luxury.”
Payton MacDonald. Courtesy photo.
Located near the mountains, Avaloch was the ideal venue for musician Payton MacDonald to work on his project, Sonic Peaks, which blends his passions for music and nature through the creation of graphic scores.
“A graphic score is a piece of music that has a mixture of notation styles,” MacDonald said. “It has traditional notation, it has text, it has pictures, diagrams, all kinds of things … It also functions as visual art in a way.”
Originally from Idaho, MacDonald has always loved the outdoors, enjoying endurance sports, triathlons, hiking, camping and mountain biking. His interest in music also dates back to his early years. He started taking drum lessons when he was 9 years old and eventually branched out into other percussive instruments, such as the marimba and xylophone.
“I’ve just been passionate about music ever since I can remember,” MacDonald said.
He heard about the residency program through Bathgate, and having wanted to hike the White Mountains, took the opportunity. During his residency in June, MacDonald completed three graphic scores, two of which were inspired by hiking Cannon and North and South Kinsman in the White Mountains during his time at Avaloch.
“Avaloch is incredible. I can’t say enough good things about it,” MacDonald said. “I just had an absolute blast. I didn’t want it to ever end, honestly.”
According to Bathgate, the completion of Avaloch’s new concert barn gives musicians a new venue to share their art, expanding Avaloch’s community engagement by bringing the community to the farm with the Evenings at Avaloch concert series, which features a wide variety of music from musicians all over the world.
“This is going to change the possibility and programming for the future because we’ll be able to share what these artists are working on with the surrounding communities,” Bathgate said. “Just the fact that we have jazz and early music, classical music, experimental music, electronic music, it’s just a wealth of genres, [and] also these artists who are coming from the West Coast, the Midwest, from Israel, South America and all sorts of different countries, I think is an incredible resource and win for this community.”
Upcoming events
Avaloch Farm Music Institute, 16 Hardy Lane, Boscawen, avalochfarmmusic.org
Evenings at Avaloch, on Friday, July 14 and July 21, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
Composers Conference Ensemble Concert #1: Lighting, Wednesday, July 26, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
Composers Conference Guest Composer Spotlight: Michelle Lou, Thursday, July 27, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Composers Conference: CMW Artists-in-Residence Concert #1. Friday, July 28, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
Composers Conference Ensemble Concert #2: Ethos, Saturday, July 29, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. $10 donation is suggested.
For Corrie Owens-Beauchesne, a company artist at New Hampshire Theater Project in Portsmouth, theater has always been an outlet to access and process emotions. Now she is able to help others experience this themselves through the artists in residency program at NHTP.
Corrie Owens-Beauchesne. Courtesy photo.
NHTP was established in 1988 as an artists in residency program, eventually becoming a theater, when founding executive director Genevieve Aichele began going into schools and introducing them to story theater.
“Story theater utilizes these stories that don’t have a main character,” Owens-Beauchesne said. “The kids work together and they learn through this [that] theater [is a] group process where it takes a whole village to create a story.”
Today, NHTP acts as a liaison to form connections between artists and organizations, sorting out the budgeting and creating the contracts for each to sign. The artists then run theater-related programming at the organization.
“[The artists] have such a broad, diverse range of specialties, but a lot of them have improv expertise and use theater as a tool that can help people in other areas of life,” Owens-Beauchesne said.
These organizations include elementary schools, universities and senior living homes. Through these tools, people are taught skills in areas such as public speaking or social emotional learning. Owens-Beauchesne started taking classes at NHTP when she was around 6 years old. At the theater, she found a safe haven to express and process her feelings.
“[My family was] pretty poor, and I think because of that there was a lot of distress in my family,” she said. “Theater really gave me this outlet and I remember it totally changed how I felt like I could express myself. I would come to the theater and I would have all these feelings inside me, like anger or frustration or sadness, and I would have a place [where] it was OK to share those and people around me had tools for processing [them].”
Owens-Beauchesne has received a degree in theater education and has her license in elementary education in Massachusetts. Though she has experience in the public school system, she feels she has more freedom through her work as a company artist. She is able to design her own curriculum, which implements, improv, modified theater games, and is influenced by her study of Augusto Boal’s Theatre of the Oppressed.
“I see it really helping these kids gain better skills about how to be in community with each other and how to help themselves when they’re feeling bad,” Owens-Beauchesne said.
Through this work, she is able to give children the tools that she was given as a child at NHTP.
“Honestly, I really believe that theater is pretty therapeutic,” Owens-Beauchesne said. “It was a huge tool in my life I’d say, and then as I got older I just learned more and I saw it transforming other people’s lives, and I knew that [was] something I wanted to continue to be a part of.”
New Hampshire Theatre Project
959 Islington St., No. 3, in Portsmouth; nhtheatreproject.org, 431-6644
NH Theatre Project will be holding auditions for its 2023-2024 season on Tuesday, July 25, from 5 to 8 p.m. Find the signup and registration forms on its website.
Preview the new season, which starts with the production Thirst for Freedom on Sept. 22, on the website, where you can find a list of shows and see a video preview.
Ellen Friedlander. Courtesy photo.
Artist at Canterbury Shaker Village The Canterbury Shaker Village’s artist-in-residency program is hosting visual artist Ellen Friedlander from Los Angeles through Saturday, July 15, and then again Sunday, Oct. 1 through Sunday, Oct. 8, according to a press release. According to the release, while at the Canterbury Shaker Village (288 Shaker Road in Canterbury; 783-9511, shakers.org), Friedlander planned to experiment with her pinhole lens and a new neutral density filter. “In addition to photographing the Village itself, I plan to work on sequencing a book that I have been working on for about a year,” Friedlander said in the release.
Building a community
The Art Center in Dover puts the emphasis on artists
The residency program at The Art Center provides a built-in community of artists and art-lovers. Rebecca Proctor, the owner and founder of The Art Center, said that she wanted to give artists of varying disciplines a space to work and also to be inspired and to receive feedback.
Diane St. Jean. Courtesy photo.
“To be able to be in a space where you can learn from other artists and be inspired by other artists is exciting and beneficial to artists who maybe don’t have a studio,” Proctor said.
There are two programs at The Art Center, one for miscellaneous visual arts, and one specifically for printmakers, and both are four months long. At the end of the residency, Proctor said, the artists will have completed a small collection of work that will be displayed in the center’s gallery
Several former artists in residence now rent studio space, including the first artist in residence for the printmaking residency, Diane St. Jean. St. Jean teaches printmaking classes and helps the printmaking resident with their projects. Part of why St. Jean stayed with the Art Center is the community built there.
“The other artists give their opinions and encouragement, even if they aren’t printmakers,” said St. Jean. “Everyone is supportive and friendly.”
The current artist in residence, Pep Manalang, has already completed several works. “It’s free from pressure that you get at galleries and from buyers to develop art,” Manalang said. “Here, I can spend lots of time thinking.”
The Art Center
1 Washington St., Suite 1177, Dover, 978-6702, theartcenterdover.com The deadline for applications for the next residency, Oct. 1 through Jan. 31, is on Sept. 19. Submit applications via email to [email protected]. Find works by the Art Center’s residents and member artists via the website.
Local playwright and filmmaker Donald Tongue recently wrapped up filming his adaptation of Robert Frost’s poem “Home Burial” at Canterbury Shaker Village. Tongue discussed what drew him to Frost’s poetry and his approach to interpreting the poem on screen. Follow facebook.com/tonguemtproductions for updates on the film and how to view it.
What inspired you to adapt Robert Frost’s poem ‘Home Burial’ into a film?
A number of years ago, I wrote a play about Robert Frost titled My Neighbor, the Poet that was commissioned by Theater Kapow. I also staged ‘Home Burial’ a number of years ago at Southern New Hampshire University. … I did a lot of research and read a lot of his poetry and was very much taken with the sort of cinematic quality of his poetry; it has very clear actions that he’s describing … and he definitely seems to focus on characters. … Then, he has a lot of dialogue within his poetry between the characters, or, if there’s one character, there’s some sort of internal dialogue going on. I think, in many ways, he just kind of had this [ability to take] these scenes that he was living out himself and convey them through poetry.
You’ve written a number of pieces for the stage; had you ever written for film before this? How are the processes different for you?
I did a 13-part web series called Candid Candidate, which was sort of a mockumentary about two presidential primary candidates, so I had dabbled in [film] a little bit, but this is my first venture into a real full-length feature film. Film is definitely a totally different process. There are certainly things that are the same: You have to work out the acting, the character motivations, things like that, and we rehearse sort of similarly, [as far as] the line delivery and what’s behind it. But for stage, you’re creating something that is to be performed, and it’s going to be the same for each performance, [whereas] in film, you’ve got to think about the different camera angles and how you’re capturing the story through the lens. I had to do a lot of learning about the different types of shots that filmmakers use and what those convey.
How literal is your interpretation of the poem?
I’ve seen other [adaptations] that just use [the poem] as source material; my approach, though, was to use the poem verbatim. There is nothing in the film that’s not in the poem. In the moments where there’s dialogue [in the poem], there’s dialogue [in the film]. When [the poem has] description, [the film has] a voiceover, and the actors perform the descriptive verse [during] the voiceover. I feel that it works really well. … It’s just such a great, wonderfully written poem; I didn’t want to mess with it.
How did you interpret the poem’s more abstract themes and visuals on film?
A lot of the action is clear in the poem. It starts out, ‘He saw her from the bottom of the stairs.’ We had to find a staircase with a window at the top to be able to capture that visual from the poem. … The shot starts from the bottom of the staircase and moves up to her at the window. In some ways, it feels like you’re coming out of the grave, like you’re kind of unearthing this moment in time between these two characters; that was one vision I had as far as capturing the feel and emotion of the poem.
What was it like shooting at Canterbury Shaker Village, and why did you choose that location?
There was a schoolhouse building at Canterbury Shaker Village that had what we were looking for: the staircase in a rustic setting with a window at the top of the stairs. It worked well because, being a schoolhouse, the staircase is a little wider than [those in] some of the older-period farmhouses, where the staircases are kind of narrow. That certainly helped to both create the proper setting and accommodate the film crew in the space. … Canterbury Shaker Village was extremely accommodating for our film shoot; they gave us access to areas in the administrative building for our breaks, loaned us some set pieces and even moved the cows to another pasture and made sure the electric fence was turned off for our outdoor scenes.
The state’s Division for Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) has a new director, Jeff Fleischer, who will start his job on Aug. 1. According to a press release, Fleischer has bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work from Rutgers University and has decades of experience partnering with child welfare and juvenile justice departments across the nation. He has been the CEO of Youth Advocate Programs for 20 years, overseeing 150 program sites in 33 states and several countries, and has served as the chair of the National Human Service Assembly. Fleischer is also a nationally recognized leader in the field of youth advocacy and community-based alternatives to incarceration and out-of-home placements. He will lead a division of about 700 staff serving 15,000 children and their families annually and will be responsible for strategic leadership, programmatic oversight, management and operational direction for child protection and juvenile justice services.
New development
North Branch Construction has successfully completed the construction of Red Oak at 409 Elm St. in downtown Manchester. According to a press release, the mixed-use development, spanning 96,250 square feet across six stories, consists of 90 apartment homes, ranging from studios to two-bedroom units, and serves as the corporate headquarters for Red Oak Apartment Homes; Additionally, the ground floor provides co-working office suites, a conference room and a fully equipped business center. The building is furnished with energy efficiency, LED lighting, Energy Star appliances, rooftop solar panels and electric vehicle charging stations, as well as resident amenities like package lockers, a resident-only entrance and lobby, in-unit washers and dryers, central heating and air conditioning, video security, pet-friendly accommodations, bike and extra storage areas, pet and bike washing facilities and a fitness area with a yoga studio.
Local eats
The Merrimack County Conservation District (MCCD) has released a local food guide for 2023, highlighting dairy, produce and specialty food farms in the county. According to a press release, the guide aims to promote the availability and accessibility of local agricultural products and provides a town-by-town list of farms, farmers markets and programs supporting food production in New Hampshire, making it easy for readers to connect with their local agricultural community. The guide also includes informative articles about local farms, emphasizing the importance of understanding where food comes from and supporting the local economy. Digital copies of the guide can be downloaded from the MCCD website, and physical copies are available upon request.
Local power
The Community Power Coalition of New Hampshire (CPCNH), a nonprofit that empowers local communities to choose their electricity sources while working with local utilities on energy governance and infrastructure, announced in a press release its new base rate of 10.9 cents per kilowatt-hour, which will save $5.5 million for their 75,000 customers and generate $1.7 million for community reserves. CPCNH also plans to offer renewable power options at competitive rates. The Coalition has grown to 35 members and represents 24 percent of the state’s population, according to the release.
Executive order
Gov. Chris Sununu has signed an executive order that prohibits the State of New Hampshire from doing business with any company that supports boycotts of Israel. According to a press release, the order aims to strengthen the ties between New Hampshire and Israel and to oppose anti-semitism and discrimination. The order was signed in the presence of Israel’s Ambassador to the UN and Consul General to New England, who thanked the state for its support. The order was also praised by the IAC for Action, a pro-Israel advocacy group. New Hampshire is the 37th state to adopt such a measure against the BDS movement, which seeks to isolate Israel economically and politically.
The University of New Hampshire’s NH Agricultural Experiment Station and Granite State Dairy Promotion host “Meet Your Milk” on Saturday, July 22, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the Fairchild Dairy Teaching and Research Center in Durham. According to a press release, the free event will educate people about the dairy industry and provide a firsthand experience of a working dairy farm. Visitors can tour the facility, interact with cows, enjoy free New Hampshire milk and take wagon rides. The Smokin’ Spank’s food truck will also be there, serving barbecue. Visit nhdairypromo.org to learn more.
The Working Dog Foundation/NH Police K-9 Academy has been selected as the beneficiary of Hannaford’s Community Bag Program for July, according to a press release. For every $2.50 Community Bag purchased at the Hannaford store in Raymond, $1 will be donated to the academy. The donation will support the care and training of municipal K-9 teams in New Hampshire and Maine.
The Upper Room Board congratulates the winner of its sixth annual Anna Willis Memorial Scholarship, Emerson Carrecedo of Windham High School. According to a press release, Carrecedo wants to pursue music and explore how musical performance can make a difference in the community. The scholarship honors the late Anna Willis, a founder of the Upper Room Board of Directors, who was dedicated to making the world a better place. The seventh annual Anna Willis Memorial Scholarship Award will be announced in early 2024 for eligible applicants.
For fans of original local music, the show always starts early at Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, on the venue’s Hazy Little Stage. Situated just beyond the Gilford amphitheater’s entrance, the second stage hosts some of the region’s finest local talent, with each act chosen to complement the headlining performer.
Upcoming are the countrified Not Leaving Sober ahead of Sam Hunt on July 7, and blood harmony band Town Meeting prior to Counting Crows’ July 14 show. In August, singer-songwriter April Cushman precedes Jelly Roll, with jam band stalwarts Supernothing playing prior to a Slightly Stoopid and Sublime with Rome double bill.
In a perfect pairing, the concert season closes out on Sept. 30 with ’90s acolytes Donaher teeing off for the Goo Goo Dolls. The Hazy Little Stage’s full schedule can be found on the venue’s website.
Providing the prelude to Dave Matthews Band’s July 11 show is The Gravel Project, a Boston band offering a vintage rock and soul sound that pairs with the bill-toppers like a salted pretzel and a cold IPA. On guitar and vocals, Andrew Gravel leads a novel configuration of his brother Jordan on keys, drummer Dave Fox and Eguie Castrillo playing percussion.
Gravel has been the band’s one constant since it began in 2013, though for the past six years he, his brother and Fox have formed its nucleus.
“The fact that we call it a project means we’ve got other people who come and play with us from time to time,” Gravel said by phone recently. “It kind of describes the whole nature of it.”
Playing without a bassist is uncommon but wasn’t always the case. The choice came out of necessity; a few years back, when their then-bass player didn’t make it to a couple of gigs, Jordan crafted a low end on his keyboards.
“We were like, ‘that was actually really good,’” Gravel recalled; they kept at it after that. “It was an organic direction for us at the time … then it brought a level of consistency to the lineup that we hadn’t felt prior.”
Live at Wellspring, released in February, is the first album to include a female voice in a prominent role. Having another vocalist “was something I always wanted to explore,” Gravel said. “A lot of these songs [are] meant for more than one singer.”
Though the vocalist who appeared on Wellspring is gone, with a rotating roster now accompanying the band (American Idol alum Erika Van Pelt joins them in Gilford), the added element on the live LP made Gravel realize that a woman on stage made a big difference. “It opened the band up for us, and there’s definitely a commitment to keep that role filled.”
The Gravel Project has played Meadowbrook’s side stage before; last year they opened for Tedeschi Trucks Band. Like DMB, that slot reflected Gravel’s influences as a performer “Nineties rock was the soundtrack to my childhood, but even before that, in the eighties, when I was younger, my parents were always just playing tons of Beatles in the house,” he said. “A lot of Allman Brothers, Led Zeppelin … that stuff kind was from the very beginning real close to my heart.”
Early on, Gravel played a Fender Stratocaster. These days he toggles between two Gibson guitars — the iconic Les Paul, and a hollow body ES-335.
“That’s a big part of my sound, the vintage Gibson thing,” he said. “I’m also a sponsored artist by Two-Rock, which are these amazing amplifiers made out of California. They capture the spirit of the Sixties Blackface Fender sound [and] take it a little bit further.”
To extend the theme, Jordan plays both Hammond B3 and Fender Rhodes organs. “He loves, just like I do, the vintage gear,” Gravel said. “I mean, you just can’t beat it.”
Gravel is pleased to be opening DMB’s two-night stand. “It’s certainly an honor to be involved,” he said. “It’s such a loyal fan base that loves good music, and we’re excited to bring something that’s different [but] closely enough related. I think all his fans are certainly into great songs, and they’re also into extended jams and improvisation.”
The Gravel Project When: Tuesday, July 11, 5:30 p.m. Where: Bank of New Hampshire Pavilion, 72 Meadowbrook Lane, Gilford More: thegravelproject.com Ticket for Dave Matthews Band required – $74 and up at livenation.com
Featured photo: The Gravel Project. Courtesy photo.
